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C of I Newsletter

2007. 05. 10.

The Coyote wins General Excellence from Idaho Press Club

ACI's student newspaper, The Coyote, was awarded first place for General Excellence at the annual Idaho Press Club awards on Saturday.

The Coyote, which has three regular staff members and relies mainly on student submissions, beat papers from much larger schools. BYU-Idaho's Scroll came in second place, The Arbiter (BSU) took third. An honorable mention was given to The Argonaut (University of Idaho).

'This is all pretty cool, considering we haven't even placed in the past several years and as far back as anyone can remember, we have never taken first place,' The Coyote editor-in-chief Stephen Lowman said. 'I'm pretty proud.'

Lowman also won several awards, including third place for watchdog/investigative reporting, third place for editorial writing and honorable mention for light feature. The Coyote staff won third place for headline writing.

One of the key goals from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation challenge grant†is to increase ACI's alumni giving rate to 23 percent this year.

Currently, CofI has 1,188 alumni donors, for a giving rate of 18.28 percent. The College needs 307 more by June 30 to meet the goal. The development office is asking alumni to donate to the Boone Fund, which supports the College's†yearly operating and†scholarship needs.

Help CofI meet the challenge set forth by the Albertson Foundation by contributing to the Boone Fund by June 30. Click here to make a donation.

Each week, this newsletter will update the percentage of alumni who have given to the College this year. Your participation matters because every gift helps CofI reach its goal.

Senior Legacy Campaign deadline extended

The deadline for CofI seniors to donate to the College and recognize the person who has most influenced them has been extended until Friday, May 11.

The Senior Legacy Campaign is asking seniors to donate at least $10 to the Boone Fund. For every senior who donates at least $10, the Board of Trustees and Paul Bennion have promised an additional $6.

As of Wednesday, 59 seniors have donated $1,243. To reach the goal of 80 percent participation, 71 more donors are needed. To keep track of the seniors' progress, or to complete the exit survey (seniors only), please click here.

Seniors should make donations by May 11 in order to list their name and the name of the person being honored in the commencement program. For more information about the Senior Legacy Campaign, email boonefund@collegeofidaho.edu.

Angresano on Dialogue tonight (May 10)

Political Economy Professor Jim Angresano will be a guest on Idaho Public Television's Dialogue program tonight.

Angresano, who is the Carnegie Foundation's Idaho Professor of the Year, and host Joan Cartan-Hansen will discuss socially responsible investing for individuals as well as government funds, and its impact on public policy. Lisa Leff, a certified financial analyst with Trillium Asset Management Corporation, is also a guest.

Dialogue, a live call-in show, begins at 8:30 p.m. on IPTV. The taped version will rerun on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.

Spring concert May 17 to honor graduating seniors, Terry Stone

ACI's Spring Concert featuring the concert band and jazz ensemble will be held Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Jewett Auditorium.

The Spring Concert will honor graduating seniors and Music Department Chair Terry Stone, who is retiring.

The concert band program includes seniors Anna Bender and Bert Martin who will each perform a solo with the concert band.† Anna will play 'Rondo' from the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, and Bert will play 'Declaration For Trumpet.'† The concert band will also perform 'Basque Rhapsody' by Boise composer Melvin Shelton, BSU emeritus professor.

The jazz ensemble program will include several jazz classics and feature students on improvised solos. The Daniel Lew Jazz Band Award will be presented to an outstanding member of the ensemble.

The singers will prepare the Durufle 'Requiem' with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, conducted by Raymond Hughes, the chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. The residency will conclude with a performance in world-famous Carnegie†Hall on Sunday, May 27.

'This is an amazing opportunity for our students and it showcases the caliber of their talent,' Andrew Percifield, director of CofI choral activities, who is also going to New York said.

The Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund through the Idaho Community Foundation helped make this trip possible.

Student awards presented May 3

More than 125 students were presented with awards at the annual awards assembly on May 3. To see the list of awardees, click here.

ACI hosts Mormon-Evangelical conversation tonight

Dr. Robert Millet, professor of Ancient Scriptures at Brigham Young University, and Rev. Gregory Johnson, an ordained Conservative Baptist minister who is a former Mormon, will present 'Mormon Christianity and Evangelical Christianity:† A Civil Conversation' as part of the spring series of adult religious education events sponsored by CofI and the Faith and Life Institute for Theological Education (FLITE).

Millet and Johnson will be in Jewett Auditorium tonight (May 10) at 7 p.m.† Registration for the event is $5.

'These two men model how any deep religious differences can be effectively addressed.† Mainline Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Roman Catholics, Buddhists, agnostics and atheists all have something important to learn from them,' said Denny Clark, religion professor at ACI, who organized the FLITE series.

ACI students present research at Idaho Academy of Science

CofI students Lindsey Hunt, Megan Longo,†Jackeline Rodriguez-Reyes, Spenser Smith, Michael Wells, and Corey Westfall presented their research at the 49th Annual Idaho Academy of Science meeting hosted by Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls†on April 19-21.

Special congratulations to Michael Wells†who received first place for his oral presentation and Megan Longo who received 3rd place for her poster presentation.†The student research was sponsored in part by an NIH-INBRE grant.

Alums return to campus: JW Robinson ('00), Susanne Skyrm ('71)

JW Robinson ('00), who works for Department of Justice in San Francisco, returned to campus last week to talk about his career and life after college to students in the chemistry department.

JW participated in internships with the Oregon State Police and Idaho State Police during his time at ACI, which helped him get what he calls his 'dream' job with the DOJ.

JW said he is able to use what he learned at CofI in his everyday career.

'For me it was the mindset that professors instill in you – as far as questioning facts, opinions and not taking an answer on its face value. An outward, thinking perspective,' he said.

This is JW's second time to visit the campus as a guest lecturer.

'I strongly encourage other alums to reconnect with the college. To visit home. You have your other home, but this is still home, too.'

Susanne Skyrm ('71) will perform a piano concert Sunday, May 20 at 2:30 p.m. in Langroise Auditorium. The concert is free, and donations will benefit Pet Haven Humane Society in Nampa. Skyrm will play a selection of Latin American piano works.

She teaches studio piano, class piano, and piano literature at the University of South Dakota. Last spring she was named the first recipient of the University of South Dakota's College of Fine Arts Biennial Distinguished Professor Award.

Skyrm has appeared as a piano soloist and collaborative artist throughout the United States and Europe. She specializes in both modern and early piano and combines performing with research interests in Spanish and Latin American keyboard music.

The daughter of Jeanne Skyrm Hayman and the late Richard Skyrm, Susanne holds a BA in music from the College of Idaho, graduating summa cum laude with honors in music. She earned a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Life after ACI: Where do we go now?

Below is a list of some of the places where ACI's Class of 2007 and other classes are headed after commencement. If you know of someone who has been accepted to grad school, is starting a great job or is doing something else noteworthy, please send an email to Jennifer Oxley, CofI communications director at joxley@collegeofidaho.edu. Congratulations and good luck to all.

Class of 2007

Chester Anglin – University of New Orleans, Chemistry

Molly Bullard – Willamette University, Master's of Education

Kristen Freund – Boise State University Master's of Social Work

April Harrison –† University of Washington, Masters program in Ethnomusicology

Sheridan Hodson –† Carnegie-Mellon University, Finance

Kevin Makinson – Oregon State University, MS Radiation Health Physics

Ciara Tippin will be teaching math to inner-city middle-schoolers in Newark, NJ. She was accepted into the Teach for America Program and starts training this summer.

Other classes:

Audie Black ('05) – Marrying childhood friend Jessica S. Ward. The couple will move to Lansing, Michigan where Audie has been accepted into Michigan State University's world-renowned Ph.D. clinical psychology program. Audie has been living and working in Ecuador, South America.

Alan Fujishin ('06) – †University of Minnesota, Ph.D. program in Latin American History.†

Sheri Dodd ('87) – Was recently promoted to Vice President, Worldwide for Health Economics and Reimbursement for Ethicon, Inc, a Johnson & Johnson Medical Device company.† Sheri has been with J&J for 10 years and was previously with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland

Upcoming campus events: International Food Festival, senior recitals

International Food Festival

Come enjoy the International Food Festival today (May 10) at 5 p.m. in the Quad with foods from more than eight different countries, including Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Thailand, Russia, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Italy, and others. The festival is free and is sponsored by the International Student Organization.

Caitlin Parker, mezzo-soprano, and Kenzie Petterson, concert pianist, will host their senior concert on Sunday, May 13 at 2:30 p.m. in Langroise Recital Hall. A reception will follow.

Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History News

William H. Clark, director of the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History, recently was recertified as a 'Certified Fisheries Professional' by the Board of Professional Certification, American Fisheries Society (AFS).† He was first certified with AFS in 1984.† Certification requires a certain level of professional development in the areas of continuing education-fisheries, continuing education-non-fisheries, oral communications in fisheries and non-fisheries subjects, written communications and service, and is good for a period of five years.
†

Gerald (Jerry) Wood, Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History invertebrate curator and librarian, recently attended an Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) identification workshop at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.† The workshop was about the taxonomy, biology, identification, and natural history of the Odonata. In addition to knowledge Wood gained, the museum had some specimens identified by the experts.

The museum hosted Dr. Nisikawa Usio from the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan earlier this month. Usio is here collecting specimens for genetics studies to see if the point of origin of the invasive crayfish can be found.

The Museum assisted Usio with field logistics, equipment and supplies, and will receive voucher specimens of his work, which will help fill gaps in its collection.† This is an excellent example of the types of collaboration that the Museum can be involved with, museum director Clark said.

ACI in the News

Alum Susanne Skyrm's upcoming concert (see above) was included in Marie D. Galyean's column in the Idaho Statesman on May 6. To read the item, click here.

The Idaho Statesman sports section ran an item in the May 3 paper about the women's softball team climbing nine spots to a No. 16 ranking in the NAIA Coaches Poll, and the men's golf team finishing eighth in the NAIA Region 1 Tournament. To read it, click here.

Tonight's program 'Mormon Christianity and Evangelical Christianity: A Civil Conversation,' sponsored by CofI and the Faith and Life Institute for Theological Education was included in the Idaho Press Tribune's May 7 edition.

Reminders:

Klaus Scharioth, current German ambassador to the United States who attended the College of Idaho as a Rotary Scholar, is raising money for the George V. Wolfe Endowed Scholarship at ACI.

Scharioth and Wolfe met when Scharioth was a student at the C of I. They stayed in close contact until Wolfe's death in 1990. The scholarship is awarded annually to an CofI sophomore, junior or senior majoring in political science, history, philosophy, or pre-law.

Scharioth and CofI hope to raise $42,000 for the scholarship by commencement on June 2. Scharioth will be the keynote speaker at commencement.

For more information about the scholarship, contact Michael Vandervelden at mvandervelden@collegeofidaho.edu. Contributions can be mailed to Albertson College of Idaho, Office of Development, 2112 Cleveland Blvd., Caldwell, ID 83605-4432.

Tonight (May 10) the Whittenberger Planetarium will host a show about Jupiter.† Show time is at 7:30 p.m. in Boone Science Hall.† The cost is $1 for children ages 5-18 and $2 for adults. ACI students are free. Seating is limited. Please make reservations by calling JoAnn Bellon at 459-5211.

Join the ACI Outdoor Program and Bear Valley Raft Company on Saturday, May 19 at noon for a great day on the South Fork of the Payette River. The trip is open to students, faculty and staff. The trip, including bus ride, equipment, snacks and drinks is free. A $20 is required to hold your spot, but will be refunded. Sign up in the Outdoor Program office in the McCain Student Union. No rafting experience is necessary, but be prepared to get wet. †